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Hugo Chávez will be embalmed “like Lenin” and put on permanent exhibition at a
museum dedicated to his Socialist revolution, Venezuela’s acting leader
announced last night.

As vast crowds poured into Caracas from around the country to see Chávez, who
lay in a glass-topped coffin dressed in olive-green combat fatigues and his
red paratrooper beret, Nicolás Maduro, the Vice-President, said that his
lying in state would be extended by at least a week and the body later
placed on show at the Museum of the Revolution, in a crystal casket.

“We have decided to prepare the body of our commander

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Mr Chávez's coffin is taken through the streets

March 8 2013 Juan Barreto/AFP/Getty Images

Mr Chávez's coffin is taken through the streets

March 8 2013 Juan Barreto/AFP/Getty Images

Relatives of Hugo Chávez stand next to the coffin at the Military Academy

March 8 2013 AFP/Getty Images

Mr Chávez's coffin flanked by Nicolás Maduro and the National Assembly president

March 8 2013 AFP

The presidents of Argentina, Uruguay and Bolivia pay their respects

March 8 2013 Marcelo.Garcia/AP

Diosdado Cabello, president of the national assembly, mourns Mr Chávez

March 8 2013 AP

A sea of grief-stricken crowds lined the streets of Caracas

March 8 2013 Luis Camacholuis/AFP/Getty Images

Tens of thousands of mourners turned out

March 8 2013 Jorge Dan Lopez/Reuters

A picture of the late President on display in a chapel

March 8 2013 Juan Karita/AP

The streets of the capital were packed with supporters

March 8 2013 Carlos Garcia Rawlins/Reuters

People in Caracas react to the announcement of his death

March 8 2013 Reuters

The signs read "I am Chávez"

March 8 2013 AP

Vice-President Maduro made the announcement

March 8 2013 AP

The streets filled with mourners

March 8 2013 Reuters

People prayed at a vigil in Caracas

March 8 2013 Reuters

The late President was charismatic but contentious

March 8 2013 Reuters

He battled cancer for two years

March 8 2013 Reuters

President Chávez greets supporters in 2006

March 8 2013 AFP/Getty

His final months had been shrouded in Soviet-style secrecy

March 8 2013 AFP/Getty

Rumours persisted that he was being kept alive on a ventilator

March 8 2013 AP

Outside the Venezuelan Embassy in Quito, Ecuador

March 8 2013 AFP/Getty Images

Nicolás Maduro

Perhaps Chávez’s most loyal lieutenant, he would be unlikely to alter the course of his mentor’s revolution. He has done his best to emulate Chávez’s grandiose oratory style and on Tuesday sounded like his mentor as he accused Venezuela’s "historic enemies" — the US and allies — of causing the leader’s cancer by poisoning him. As Foreign Minister he cemented relationships with US foes and promoted Chávez's vision of a multipolar world

Henrique Capriles Radonski

The 40-year-old candidate of the opposition coalition won 45 per cent of the vote in the presidential election against Chávez in October. Painting himself as a business-friendly progressive and promising to roll back state takeovers, he now has a better chance of becoming president